The present invention relates to garmet-supportable tennis ball pockets which may be used after mount upon player's garments, such as in an area of one hip of and behind any such player, for support in each of a readily available spare tennis ball while avoiding to some degree interference with such player's motions during game progress. No such prior art devices which have any particular pertinency to the present invention are known to the present applicants.
The present invention provides a garment-supportable tennis ball pocket that includes an ovally-open circumambient and lateral rim of relatively stiff, flexible material, e.g., plastic, having elastic recovery memory and with a pair of generally opposite sections thereof forming non-circular bights with opposed sides of each such bight positioned more closely toward each other than the sides of the opposed pair of intervening sections and with the latter defining arcs of appreciably lesser curvature. This pocket also has a plurality of elongated and flexible members of similar plastic depending down from its rim at annularly spaced areas and converging appreciably therebelow to a bottom common connection whereby they define together a ball-holding pocket below the rim with lateral openings between these depending members being too small for such ball to exit therethrough, and with the rim retaining its ovally-open shape when a tennis ball is in the pocket whereby exit of the ball out through the rim is prevented until the latter is reshaped to a substantially circular form by application of suitable internal and/or external forces. There is also provided simple and practical means to fasten this pocket to the exterior of a person's clothing, e.g., at a convenient place on a hip area thereof. Plastic may be preferred to various types of fabric for the material from which to form such a ball pocket, since relatively smooth plastic has greater slippage relative to the usual shaggy surface of standard tennis balls.
The ball pocket may be conveniently provided with a pair of the depending members at one rim side section between the pair of opposed bight end rim sections, which preferably may be in the form of elongated, flexible straps, and the opposed side rim section advantageously may have depending therefrom a relatively wide cup-shaped panel having a relatively narrow tab bottom connected to the bottom ends of the straps. This panel conveniently may be triangular and its cupping may be substantially centrally located and facing inward to define with the other parts the open ball-receiving pocket. Such cupping can be molded in this panel to be transversely reversible over dead center by application of lateral force transversely inward against the outside bulge caused by the inside cupping so that the cupping thus is transferred to this panel outer side. Such reshaping by this outside application of lateral pressure beyond dead center conveniently flattens the pocket for conservation of space occupied by the pocket, e.g., in the shipping, storing and handling thereof, as well as in the wearing thereof.
An embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the copending Design patent application Ser. No. 777,518, filed Mar. 14, 1977.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide such a tennis ball pocket which is readily and economically produced in mass production in a practical and relatively simple manner, such as by being formed or molded in one piece from suitable elastic material, e.g., a suitable plastic, which conveniently may be low density polyethylene, and which is easily attached to a player's garment at a convenient place for there securely carrying a tennis ball while permitting easy withdrawal of the latter when needed, e.g., such as the second ball of a service.